Four-week truce could be extended, opening the possibility of a fuller peace accord to help end years of bloodshedPakistani authorities and local Taliban militants have agreed a one-month ceasefire which may be extended if both sides agree, opening the possibility of a fuller peace accord to help end years of bloodshed.The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban that has fought for years to overthrow the government in Islamabad and rule the South Asian nation of 220 million with their own brand of Islamic sharia law. Continue reading...

Journalists on publication release statement saying that all employees were ‘immediately’ firedUkraine’s oldest English-language newspaper the Kyiv Post has suspended publication after 26 years as its journalists accused the owner, a powerful oligarch, of “attacking” them.Adnan Kivan, a construction tycoon who bought the Kyiv Post three years ago, said in a statement that the newspaper will close immediately “for a short time”. Continue reading...

Tuesday: Barack Obama singles out China and Russia for failing to cut emissions quickly enough. Plus: environmental photographer of the yearGood morning. Poorer countries are demanding richer nations do more to cut emissions. Voter approval of the prime minister is at its lowest since before the pandemic began. And bushfire survivors fear they have been abandoned.Barack Obama has called on world leaders at Cop26 to “step up and step up now” to avert climate breakdown, singling out China and Russia for being foremost among countries that are failing to cut planet-heating emissions quickly enough, and saying “most nations have failed to be as ambitious as they need to be”. Chinese officials say they are sceptical of claims that Cop26 commitments will keep global heating below 2C, and want other countries to focus on concrete actions rather than distant targets in the final week of the talks. Meanwhile, poor countries say that nations that have failed to come up with national plans on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with limiting temperature rises to 1.5C must be forced back to the negotiating table every year from now on. Continue reading...

Advice that left many leaseholders unable to sell their homes to be retracted by ChristmasSafety advice that has left thousands of households unable to sell their homes after the Grenfell Tower fire will be withdrawn by Christmas, Michael Gove has announced.The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities told MPs the government would revoke advice that has stood since January 2020 and has led to hundreds of low-rise buildings being deemed unsafe, meaning mortgage companies refused to lend against them. Continue reading...

Anticipation and celebration are in the air as passengers look forward to reunions, holidays and business

Ben Wallace said to be ‘exasperated’ following bullying and harassment scandals and Kenyan woman killing allegationsThe defence secretary, Ben Wallace, summoned senior generals to a rare special meeting of the army’s management board in London on Monday morning amid growing unhappiness about the service’s response to a series of scandals.Allies of the minister said he had become exasperated after a series of bullying and harassment scandals, as well as allegations that a Kenyan woman was killed in 2012 by a British soldier whose identity is known to several colleagues. Continue reading...

GFG’s French operations facing inquiry over alleged misuse of corporate assets and money launderingSanjeev Gupta’s business empire is being investigated by prosecutors in Paris in another blow to the steel tycoon.GFG Alliance, an informal group of metals and energy companies including Liberty Steel, has faced a litany of challenges since the collapse in March of its key lender, Greensill Capital. Continue reading...

Steve Barclay seeks to heal rift between No 10 and furious Tory backbenches and senior ministersA cabinet minister has expressed regret and admitted it was a mistake to try to spare a Tory MP from suspension by ripping up the standards system in a move that sparked a huge backlash from colleagues and the public.Steve Barclay, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, avoided directly apologising, but sought to heal the huge rift between Downing Street and both backbench Conservatives and senior ministers, who are still furious at the government’s actions last week. Continue reading...

Latest updates: MPs debate standards after Owen Paterson vote after prime minister does not rule out peerage for former MP

Father, who was German, had recently picked up son from British mother, from whom he was separatedPortuguese police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide after the remains of a three-year-old British-German boy were found in a burned-out car close to the body of his father, who is thought to have shot himself.According to local media, the bodies were discovered on Sunday afternoon in mountains near the village of Santa Margarida da Serra, 100km (60 miles) south-east of Lisbon, in the Grândola municipality.In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org Continue reading...

Military planes were allegedly used to smuggle diamonds, drugs and gold out of Central African RepublicPolice investigating allegations that Portuguese troops stationed with a UN peacekeeping force in Central African Republic used military planes to smuggle diamonds, drugs and gold back into Europe have executed 100 search warrants and raided scores of addresses across Portugal.Monday’s operation, which involved 320 officers from the country’s judicial police, came almost two years after a commander was tipped off about the alleged smuggling network. The military has also stepped up checks and inspections of military flights from CAR.Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report Continue reading...

Sajid Javid reveals police have so far confirmed Fuller abused 100 corpses in Kent hospitals over 12 yearsMinisters have bowed to pressure to hold an independent inquiry into how hospital worker David Fuller serially abused female corpses in mortuaries for over 12 years.Announcing the review, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “We have a responsibility to everyone affected by these shocking crimes to do right by those we’ve lost, and those still left behind in their shock and their grief.” Continue reading...

From washing in the shower to frequent rotation, experts share tips for making underwear lastIt was Jane Birkin’s mother who suggested: “When you’ve got nothing left, all you can do is get into silk underwear and start reading Proust.”It’s a sentiment that rings true after 18 months of stay-at-home orders, though I’m sure I’m not the only one who could replace silk underwear with soft-waisted pants and Proust with, well, news headlines. Continue reading...

With adrenaline-pumping action, Nicholas Tse’s vengeful villain cuts an almost tragic figureThe final film from Hong Kong maverick Benny Chan (Big Bullet, New Police Story, Who Am I?), who sadly died during post-production, this has all the genre pleasures of an old school bad cop v good cop flick. Honest, stoic cop Bong (Donnie Yen) is about to capture a longtime criminal nemesis when, to his horror, a masked gang annihilate his foe along with a dozen other colleagues. Even more shocking, Bong soon discovers that the leader of this savage ambush – spectacularly shot at an abandoned shopping mall – is none other than Ngo (Nicholas Tse), a former comrade-in-arms whom he sent to jail for misconduct.Straight out of prison and thirsty for blood, Ngo and his band of cops-turned-criminals are itching to settle the score, which leads to some adrenaline-pumping action pieces. The ageless Yen is as mesmerising as ever in these sequences, one of which involves him infiltrating a housing project and jumping through one window to another, all while being outnumbered by ruthless goons. Still, Tse steals the show here, in part because his villain has more depth than Yen’s angel of justice. Sporting long black locks and a broody gaze, Ngo makes for an almost tragic figure; he is only evil because of misplaced loyalty to a system that does not hesitate to spit him out. Continue reading...

The world’s first streaming service for pooches promises to stimulate and educate, but Lyra soon got bored and started licking her bits – and it almost sent her owner to sleepAfter an hour of trying to cajole my dog Lyra into watching DOGTV – which launched in the UK and Europe this morning – I had some pressing questions: “What am I doing with my life?” and “why is this starting to feel like that scene in A Clockwork Orange?”DOGTV has a number of short videos explaining why it exists and how you – the human being with a dog – are supposed to use it. One blurb, a cartoon narrated by a man pretending to speak from the perspective of a pet, explains that it has been created “by scientists and dog experts” and is “based on more than 60 scientific studies”. The idea is that it offers soothing content, presented in colours and sounds that are most palatable to dogs’ perceptions, with “healing sound frequencies and positive affirmations”. It should stimulate them, calm them, and even educate them, by slowly getting them used to new or triggering sounds. Continue reading...

How damaging are the claims against Boris Johnson’s government, and how could the rows be resolved?Sleaze allegations against Boris Johnson’s government have bubbled away for some time, but been thrust into the spotlight again after the prime minister tried to overhaul standards rules to spare a Tory MP from suspension.These are the scandals facing Downing Street, how damaging they would be for the government rated out of 10 if wrongdoing is proven, and suggested solutions to uncover the truth: Continue reading...

Steve Goldman’s first rule is ‘it has to make me laugh’, and he is sharing the fun with public in HuddersfieldThere’s the album cover with the band as rabbits, or the one with a harmony duo walking out of water dressed only in their underwear and ties, but surely the most baffling is the concert guitarist pictured in dinner jacket and no trousers.Why? “I’ve no idea, sorry,” says Steve Goldman, who owns about 300 records that can lay claim to having some of the world’s worst cover art. Continue reading...

Sighting renews concerns over Beijing’s capability and intentions as tensions rise over South China SeaSatellite images show China has built mock-ups of a US navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its north-western desert, possibly for practice for a future clash.China has massively upgraded its military in recent years, and its capability and intentions are increasingly concerning to the US as tensions rise over the South China Sea, Taiwan and military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific. Continue reading...

Congolese workers describe a system of abuse, precarious employment and paltry wages – all to power the green vehicle revolutionThe names Tesla, Renault and Volvo mean nothing to Pierre*. He has never heard of an electric car. But as he heads out to work each morning in the bustling, dusty town of Fungurume, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern mining belt, he is the first link in a supply chain that is fuelling the electric vehicle revolution and its promise of a decarbonised future.Pierre is mining for cobalt, one of the world’s most sought-after minerals, and a key ingredient in the batteries that power most electric vehicles (EVs). Continue reading...

Sudan’s first Oscar entry, about a boy destined to die young, is warmed by compassion and gorgeous, dreamy imagery‘You will die at 20.” That’s the death sentence handed down to a newborn baby at the start of this gentle, affecting Sudanese drama, the feature debut of director Amjad Abu Alala (and was Sudan’s first ever Oscar entry). The scene has a kind of intense, dreamy realism. A couple bring their baby son to a Sufi naming ceremony in the desert, and while a sheikh performs the blessing, a dervish in a green jalabiya sways in a trance. The crowd chants numbers, one for every year of the baby’s life. “One … two … three …” At the count of 20, the dervish falls into a faint. The sheikh confirms everyone’s gasps: the baby will die at 20. “God’s command is inevitable.”The film is a parable about the dangers of blind faith in religion and authority, but it’s also warmly compassionate and accepting of human nature. After the ceremony, the baby’s father Alnoor (Talal Afifi) can’t cope; he leaves the village to work abroad, telling his wife, Sakina (Islam Mubarak), that she’s stronger, she’ll manage. And she does, dressed in black as if her son Muzamil is already dead; understandably, she becomes overprotective. Finally, when he’s a boy of six or seven with a soulful expressive face (played beautifully by Moatasem Rashed) she lets him go to school where he’s bullied and nicknamed “son of death” by the other boys. Continue reading...

More than 40 people have been found dead so far in disaster that has caused outrage in NigeriaSeveral people still missing after the collapse of a partly constructed luxury apartment building in Lagos a week ago are now thought by officials clearing the debris to be dead – to the anguish of families at the site still searching for answers.Only 15 people have survived, with 42 people found dead as of Sunday morning, in yet another deadly building collapse that has caused outrage in Nigeria and calls for recriminations against government and regulatory authorities. Continue reading...

As politicians argue over paternity leave, even four paid weeks off would have made a huge difference for workers like meNine months ago I was not yet a bleary-eyed dad juggling work and two baby boys, but I did know a second baby was imminent. What should’ve been a happy milestone was quickly blunted by a boomeranging lament – that there would be no taking any paid parental leave for me, a gig worker.When my first was born, just before the pandemic, I was a freelance writer in the throes of an MFA program. My wife decided it was more cost-effective to stay home with our son than return to work; soon after Covid forced everyone inside, local daycare options vanished. Continue reading...

Rights groups condemned decision to execute Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who has learning disabilitiesSingapore’s high court has stayed the execution of a man convicted of smuggling heroin, following outrage among rights groups who said he had learning disabilities and the sentence was a violation of international law.Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Malaysian national, was arrested in April 2009, when he was 21, for attempting to smuggle 43 grams of heroin into Singapore. The drugs had been strapped to his thigh. He was sentenced to death the following year and, having spent more than 12 years on death row, was told he would face execution on 10 November. Continue reading...

Special rapporteur Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng argues in brief filed in a US court that overturning abortion rights would violate international human rights treaties ratified by the USThe United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health has called on the US supreme court to uphold the right to abortion in America or risk undermining international human rights law and threatening that right elsewhere in the world.The special rapporteur, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, is one of just a handful of global observers whose mandate is to travel the world defending human rights. Continue reading...

Lack of doses and a reluctant public make government programme unfeasible, say health experts, with malaria and conflict posing greater risk to lifeIt will be “impossible” for Nigeria to meet its target of vaccinating 40% of its population by the end of the year because Covid is not being taken seriously, health experts have warned.Fewer than 1.5% of the country’s 206 million population has been fully vaccinated. But with more people killed in conflict last year and substantially more recorded deaths from malaria than Covid in Nigeria, experts believe it is further down the list of concerns for many in the country. Continue reading...

The Northern Territory town of Katherine will exit lockout today, but Darwin’s lockout has been extended by 24 hours; Nurse accused of faking a Covid vaccination; Adem Somyurek appears at Ibac; Victoria records 1,126 cases and five deaths; NSW reports 187 cases, seven deaths; ACT has 13 new cases; Barnaby Joyce slams ex-PMs’ criticisms of PM; vaccine boosters roll out nationally; NSW scraps home-visit limits for vaccinated. Follow live

Rekindle, run by young pioneers, aims to reignite a love for learning in working-class kidsWhen Black Lives Matter protests swept the UK last year, Brother Nia Imara said his phone “went crazy”. Imara is the founder of the National Association of Black Supplementary Schools (Nabss), a network of Saturday or after-schools set up to tackle the underachievement of black children in mainstream education. “I was getting a lot of phone calls from parents saying, ‘I want my child to learn their history and their culture,’” he said.The conversation in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder led many to discover the history of the black supplementary schools movement, which began in the 1970s when black communities set up weekend schools in response to racism within the mainstream school system. Continue reading...

Australians who received their second dose at least six months ago can now sign up for a third jab

Constant change in the climate policies of Australia and New Zealand has been a huge disappointment to Pacific island nationsWhen I came into office as president of Kiribati in 2003, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had released its third assessment report and, like my predecessors, I believed the report’s projected rise in sea levels posed a real threat to the survival for those of us on the frontline. Accordingly, in my first address at the UN General Assembly in 2004 I drew attention to the dangers posed by climate change, especially to small island nations like Kiribati and other Pacific island countries.The fact that no other leader made any reference to it in their statement worried me and I wondered whether I might be making a fool of myself, especially when the focus of international attention at the time was on more real and present threats like terrorism. Thankfully by the next assembly, in 2005, other Pacific island leaders had joined the call for action. This has gathered great momentum in the years since. Continue reading...

Incident near Rathcoole in Newtownabbey sparks fresh fears of Brexit-related violence in regionA bus has been set on fire after it was hijacked by four masked men on the outskirts of Belfast.The men boarded the double-decker bus in Church Road near Rathcoole in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, at about 7.45pm on Sunday, ordered passengers to get off and set it alight. Continue reading...

Monday: Australia’s emissions from land clearing are likely far higher than claimed. Plus: exploding drone has failed to assassinate Iraqi PMGood morning. Australia will lag behind the world if the government doesn’t amp up spending in research and development. Emissions from land clearing are likely far higher than claimed. And it’s only Monday, but if you’re already looking forward to a beer at the pub this weekend, Sydney’s historic Annandale Hotel – after a controversial journey – reopens this week.Australia’s emissions from land clearing are likely far higher than reported to the United Nations, new analysis indicates, sparking calls for an independent review of the sector. Researchers assessed satellite imagery of more than 50 properties in Queensland and found significant discrepancies between what is treated as cleared land by Australia’s National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) and the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (Slats) used by the state government. The Australian government has relied on its reporting of falls in land-clearing rates for almost all the reductions that allow it to claim the country’s emissions have fallen by about one-fifth since 2005. Continue reading...

Daniel Weavers, 41, arrested following search of residential property in CorkA British man has appeared in court in Ireland accused of making threats to kill a Labour MP.Daniel Weavers was charged with making the threat during a phone call with the MP on 18 October, three days after the killing of the Conservative MP Sir David Amess in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Continue reading...

Simon Coveney accuses British government of ‘deliberately forcing breakdown’ in negotiations over Northern IrelandThe prospect of a trade war between the UK and the EU has edged closer, with Ireland giving the clearest hint yet that Brussels plans to suspend the entire trade deal struck last December if the British government suspends the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol.The Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, accused the UK of “deliberately forcing a breakdown” in negotiations over Northern Ireland, adding that there was still time to step back from the brink. Continue reading...

Why do I identify with my Aboriginal family and not my Irish and English ancestry? There are many reasons, and they are all compellingEvery now and then a troll calls me white. It’s a violent colonial tactic: call me white if I identify as blak, call me blak if I wanted to identify as white. My self-identity is not important to them, nor is that of any other Indigenous person, or any person of colour. Wadjelas demand the right to define others, just defining themselves is not enough. They demand to define whiteness and blakness.It was the wadjelas that created the ‘one drop’ rule, that defined anybody with a single bla(c)k ancestor as black. They did that to separate people, to create a caste system, to protect the notion of whiteness, to protect whiteness from the merest ‘impurity’, from the merest influx of colour. Rather than accept that bla(c)k and white people are more alike than different, rather than accept that ‘half-castes’ are just people, one drop was enough, one drop was too much. Continue reading...

Former Sandinista rebel leader, who has governed since 2007, seeks unprecedented fourth termNicaragua’s authoritarian leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, are poised to extend their rule over the crisis-hit Central America country with an election that opponents and much of the international community have denounced as a charade.Ortega, the Sandinista rebel who led Nicaragua during the 1980s and has governed continuously since 2007, will seek an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in Sunday’s contest, which follows a ruthless six-month political crackdown on rivals. Continue reading...

Ahead of a UK exhibition of her photo series Journey in the Death Boat, Güliz Vural describes travelling with Syrians being smuggled to Greece from TurkeyStanding on a Turkish beach ready to join a group of Syrian refugees on an inflatable boat bound for Greece, the photojournalist Güliz Vural’s biggest fear was that the people traffickers organising the illegal crossing would not let her onboard.If she had known that within a few hours of leaving Turkey she would be under arrest, accused of people trafficking herself, she would have thought twice about the journey.The migrants carry the inflatable boat they will travel in down to the beach. They had to leave all their possessions as they crammed themselves in. Nearly 50 Syrians made the crossing in a boat designed to carry 12 people, adding to the anxiety felt by the children in particular. Continue reading...

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Row deepens as Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh dismisses president’s decision to suspend Najla El-MangoushLibya’s chronic political instability has been exposed, with the country’s foreign minister, Najla El-Mangoush, suspended from office and banned from leaving the country by the president, only for the disciplinary action to be rejected by the prime minister.The power struggle comes days before a major conference in Paris at which world powers hope to speed up the departure of foreign mercenaries and troops from Libya ahead of planned December presidential and parliamentary elections, which are hanging in the balance. Continue reading...

Legal action comes after singer hit out at Robin Swann over handling of Covid restrictions

Australia currently spends just 1.8% of GDP on research and development, lagging OECD average

A decade on from psychologist Steven Pinker’s declaration that violence is declining, historians show no sign of agreeing a truceTen years ago, the psychologist Steven Pinker published The Better Angels of Our Nature, in which he argued that violence in almost all its forms – including war – was declining. The book was ecstatically received in many quarters, but then came the backlash, which shows no signs of abating. In September, 17 historians published a riposte to Pinker, suitably entitled The Darker Angels of Our Nature, in which they attacked his “fake history” to “debunk the myth of non-violent modernity”. Some may see this as a storm in an intellectual teacup, but the central question – can we learn anything about the future of warfare from the ancient past? – remains an important one.Pinker thought we could and he supported his claim of a long decline with data stretching thousands of years back into prehistory. But among his critics are those who say that warfare between modern nation states, which are only a few hundred years old, has nothing in common with conflict before that time, and therefore it’s too soon to say if the supposed “long peace” we’ve been enjoying since the end of the second world war is a blip or a sustained trend. Continue reading...

Could you calm someone living in a war zone? Meet five counsellors facing up to terrible challengesI joined the Liverpool Fire Brigade in 1968 at the age of 16. I transferred to North Wales, before eventually joining South Wales Fire and Rescue Service nearly three decades later. I was brought up in a Christian home; my father was a minister right here in the valleys. For a long time, I never wanted to be involved, formally. Eventually, I trained for the ministry, jointly leading a church, and missions in Uganda. On one such trip, I found my calling. Continue reading...

An impoverished teen seeks to escape the clutches of a human trafficker in Alexandre Moratto’s complex dramaBrazilian director Alexandre Moratto’s follow-up to his award-winning debut Socrates, 7 Prisoners delves into the subject of modern slavery through the eyes of 18-year-old Mateus (Christian Malheiros, excellent). In order to support his family, Mateus takes a job in the city, but finds himself imprisoned and working off a seemingly endless debt to his employer (Rodrigo Santoro). His initial reaction is desperation and anger, but Mateus is smart and negotiates with his captor on behalf of his fellow workers. The rather on-the-nose storytelling grows increasingly complex and interesting the further that the protagonist ventures into morally ambiguous territory.In cinemas and on Netflix from 11 November Continue reading...

David Owen condemns Cabinet Office’s ‘waste of public money’ in four-year bid to stop part of archive’s releaseThe Cabinet Office has been accused of a “grotesque abuse” of public funds in a freedom of information battle over the personal diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten in which costs are now expected to exceed £600,000.Andrew Lownie, the author and historian, has fought a four-year legal battle over the papers that are in an archive saved for the nation after a fundraising campaign. They are now held at Southampton University. Continue reading...

The theatre and film actor on staging a pair of Julian Barnes stories, playing Emperor Palpatine, and finding peace in isolationIan McDiarmid, 77, has distinguished himself as a theatrical all-rounder. He made his name on stage as an actor of incisive authority and is internationally known as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars films. Between 1990 and 2002, he ran – with Jonathan Kent – the Almeida theatre in London with tremendous flair. He is touring a one-man show, The Lemon Table – his adaptation of a pair of acerbically funny Julian Barnes stories: one about Sibelius in old age, the other about a sixtysomething concert-goer with zero tolerance for coughers, chatterers and mobile-phone users.What first drew you to Julian Barnes’s stories?

The daughter of the Indonesian president responds to our story about the propaganda war waged against himMy father, Sukarno, the first elected president of Indonesia, was put under house arrest in March 1967 a few days after I was born. He was 67. In the months before, there had been a bloodbath in the country in which he lost many trusted friends and allies. The year before, he had sent my mother, who was pregnant with me, to Japan, her homeland, advising her to return to Indonesia when the situation improved.It never did. Three years later, in 1970, I saw my father for the first time, on his deathbed. My mother and I had not been allowed to return to the country and we had been living in France. My father died a few hours after our plane from Paris landed. Thanks to the despotic rule of the second president – General Suharto – I was not able to see my father alive, although my mother had tried repeatedly to enter Indonesia. Continue reading...

Artefacts reflect joys and sorrows of a community persecuted in Spain since Catholic reconquest in 1492It doesn’t look like a place of legend, but the narrow Carrer de la Cera is the birthplace of la rumba catalana, the infectiously rhythmic stepchild of flamenco created by Barcelona’s Gypsy community in the 1950s and popular today throughout the world.Now the city’s gitanos have their own museum, a tiny, vibrant space on the Carrer de la Cera, which lies in the multicultural el Raval neighbourhood. The museum will open its doors on Sunday. Continue reading...

The comedian will have you in stitches, but she can also leave you speechless. Katherine Ryan talks to Eva Wiseman about breast implants and potty training – and the jokes even she wouldn’t risk todayKatherine Ryan has named her autobiography The Audacity, a word (she explains) most commonly used to indicate disapproval. “Like, ‘HOW DARE she carry herself with that wicked abundance of self-belief? How AUDACIOUS!’” It is the perfect title. The absolute perfect title for a memoir by a comedian equal parts louche and lurid, famous for her uncompromising attitude, convincing invulnerability and refusal to self-deprecate. Her cover photo, shot when she was nine months pregnant, sees Ryan lucent and blonde in an ice-blue gown trimmed with marabou feathers, holding aloft in her left hand her favourite of her three tiny dogs.It is these small dogs that greet me at her front door, and an entirely other lady. Instead of TV’s Katherine Ryan, be-lashed and dazzling, a happy cross between Christine Baranski and Taylor Swift, I’m welcomed by real-life Ryan, makeup-less in leggings, immediately offering me a plate of halloumi salad and a selection of milks for my tea. A breast pump sits on the counter beside a bag of golden hair extensions and outside, by the dainty heated swimming pool, her 12-week-old baby Fred sleeps gently in his pram. The atmosphere is one of Californian tranquillity in the London suburbs, only punctured slightly by her description of a man lowering his anus on to a bed post. Continue reading...

Asylum seekers are pawns in a conflict between Poland and BelarusOn the outskirts of the Białowieża forest – which bestrides the border between south-east Poland and Belarus – a group of seven Iraqi Kurds make their weary way towards the Polish hamlet of Grodzisk.The latest miles of their journey have been from Belarus – crossing back and forth twice, deported after their first and second attempts. Now a third time: through sub-zero temperatures, across the primeval forest’s marshy terrain. Among them are two children: an eight-month-old girl and a two-year-old boy. When we came upon them, they were afraid to get up off the ground and begged us not to call the police, whispering: “They’ll kill us.” Continue reading...